Shoes are made in many sizes, for men, women and children. Since feet sizes vary remarkably between individuals, commercially available, ready-to-wear shoes are made in numerous sizes. These sizes vary from sizes 3.5 to 15 for men, sizes 5 to 13.5 for women and sizes 5 to 13 for children. In order to find a reasonable semblance of custom-fit for the customers, shoe manufacturers make all shoes in all of the above sizes and often in ½ sizes. Even with such a wide variety of sizes of available shoes, often the wearer will find their shoes not fit perfectly. This is due to the fact that not only the length of their feet but also the width will determine how well they tolerate the shoes. In the case of children, the growth in size of their feet, commensurate with their overall growth often makes the parents' task of finding a good fit daunting. And, they will necessitate frequent replacement with larger and larger size shoes.
The present invention addresses all of the above issues adequately. By providing expandable (but still sturdy) stretches of elastic material at strategic locations in the top portion of the shoes, it is anticipated that only a few sizes of shoes will be necessary for all age groups and both genders. It is further anticipated that a vast majority of adults will fall within one medium size; this is so because it is easy with this invention to expand sufficiently to accommodate a significant range of feet sizes.
Prior art patents on shoes as in EP1529456 teach an expandable orthopedic type shoe that expands to accommodate a swollen foot.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,468 a shoe has stitching moved inward forming somewhat of a U where the sides join the sole wherein the foot is able to expand widthwise. This patent is called “Moccasin Shoe” and it provides for expandable width and a comfortable feeling due to the fact that the leather upper is attached to the sole inboard of the edges so that the shoe can stretch. None of these shoes provides a way for the shoe to adjust to accommodate larger sizes because they fail to provide expansion upward, sideways and lengthwise.